Historic Oscars and Grammy Awards

By Gabriella DeStefano and Amberley Velazquez

Beyonce has the most career wins by any artist as of February 5, at the 65 annual Grammys. She accumulated these Grammy’s as a result of her newest album “Renaissance”. Saldy for Beyonce, she did not take home any Grammys in the popular categories like Album of the Year, Record of the Year, and Song of the Year. This was also Beyonce’s fourth career loss for Album of the Year. 

On March 12 2023, the movie “Everything Everywhere all at once” won multiple Oscars. The awards that they won were Best Pictures, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actress, Best Original Screenplay. The movie is about this girl Joy wants to destroy the universe because she thinks that her mother Evelyn doesn’t accept her. During the movie, they get upset with each other and at the end become a family again. The film, nominated for eleven awards, took home seven Oscars, including three of the four acting Oscars and best picture. 

Speaker of the House

By Jakob Kirz

On January 7th, Kevin McCarthy, the former Republican speaker of the house was named Speaker of House. He was elected on the 15th ballot with 216 votes, after four days of House votes. Later in the year, he was ousted by congress as a group voted to remove him from the office on October third. The group, made up of fellow Republicans, had more conservative views than McCarthy and wanted him to act in further accordance with their wishes, which he refused. In the end, Democrats and this group voted to remove McCarthy from the office of speaker. 

Bills safety Damar Hamlin Revived on field

By Finn Behrens

The Buffalo Bills safety collapsed on the field after going into cardiac arrest. He was given CPR on the field and a defibrillator was needed to restart his heart. He spent days afterwards on a ventilator to help his breathing. He has since fully recovered and made a return to the team.

Super Bowl 2023 Recap

By Danielle Brown

On February 9, Patrick Mahomes won his second NFL MVP Award. Three days later, he took the Kansas City Chiefs to Super Bowl victory, making that his second Super Bowl win, beating the Philadelphia Eagles 38-35 in Glendale, Arizona. The game concluded an eventful season; Buffalo Bills’ Damar Hamlin suffered a cardiac arrest during a game in early January, and high profile hits on Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa brought about criticism on how the NFL handles injuries, specifically concussions.

Spy Balloon 

By Izan Majagah

At the start of February, the US air force shot down a believed Chinese spy balloon. The balloon flew across multiple states including Alaska. Later, US intelligence concluded that the balloon never transmitted any intelligence China. The incident further highlighted the tensions between the US and China.  

The War in Ukraine Continues

February 24th marked the first anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. By the end of 2023, there is still no end to the war in sight as Russia and Ukraine vowed to fight on. Ukraine’s top commander says that Ukraine is locked in a stalemate with Russia.

Former President’s Legal Battles

By Philip Colicchio and Godwin Arcot 

In March, Former President Donald Trump was indicted on 34 criminal charges in New York. By the end of 2023, former president Donald Trump had been indicted on 91 counts in in four court cases. These cases are in NY, Florida, DC, and Georgia and include 44 federal charges and 47 state charges. Some of the felony indictments are for obstructing justice and planning to falsify the election results in his favour, falsifying business records in the first degree, hoarding classified documents,  and attempting to obstruct an official proceeding and conspiracy against rights on January 6, 2021. Trump has denied all the charges.

The Passing of Lisa Marie Presley

By Averi Gonzalez Lopez

Celebrities expressed shock and heartbreak on social media over the death of Lisa Marie Presley, the singer-songwriter. Lisa Marie Presley, the only child of rock ‘n’ roll legend Elvis, died of a bowel obstruction, the Los Angeles County medical examiner’s office has said.The obstruction was a result of adhesions caused by weight-loss surgery she underwent several years ago.

Canadian Fires Run Wild 

Throughout the majority of 2023, Canada has been affected by a record-setting string of wildfires. The wildfires started in March but continued throughout the spring and summer months. The smoke affected New York, New Jersey and other states.

Titan Submersible Implosion 

By Samantha Vivino 

Contact with Titan, the vessel looking for the Titanic, was lost on June 18th.  People on board included tourists Hamish Harding, Shahzada Dawood, and his son Suleman Dawood, crew member and Titanic expert Paul-Henri Nargeolet, and OceanGate founder Stockton Rush, the submersible’s pilot. Search and rescue efforts commenced. On June 22, the search for the five missing people who went on a mission to explore the Titanic had finally come to an end. Pieces of their vessel were found on the ocean floor of the North Atlantic, 900 miles off Cape Cod, Mass. This discovery raised questions about the safety protocols in place for expeditions similar to this one.

Jerry Springer’s Death

By Noelle Racuya 

Television pioneer, Jerry Springer, loses a short battle with pancreatic cancer. Jerry Springer had a long history relating to politics even serving one term as mayor during 1977. He ran multiple iconic daytime talk shows / entertainment shows like The Jerry Springer Show, Judge Jerry, Nothing But the Truth, ect. These shows varied from political commentary, to community drama, and legal cases. 

Met Gala: Cat Outfits and Karl Lagerfeld

By Nushofarin Khalilova

Met Gala is an iconic event that is always held on the first Monday in May, where different worlds of celebrities, fashion, politics, sports, business, and art meet up. Each year there are different themes of the show and this year it was based on the Mr. Largerfeld’s six and a half decade career. Recreations and interpretations of memorable designs by Karl Lagerfeld appeared. While the designer’s cat did not attend the gala, the actor Jared Leto dressed up in a full cat outfit. 

Missing Children Found in Colombian Rainforest after 40 Days

By Charlotte English

Four children ages 13, 9, 4, and 1 were traveling with their mother aboard a plane from a community in the Amazon to a city in central Colombia. The plane disappeared off the radar and the Colombian air force alongside other military branches began searching for it. They used a massive speaker to play a recording made by the children’s grandmother in their native language, urging them to stay put. They were discovered forty days after the crash, extremely weak, but all still alive. They were only able to survive due to the oldest child’s deep knowledge of the jungle. Once retrieved from the jungle, they were brought to a hospital in the nation’s capital (Bogóta) and custody arrangements are currently being made. 

Unabomber Dies in prison 

By Anthony Fiorello

On June 10, 2023 Ted Kaczynski aka the Unabomber died in prison by an apparent suicide. For nearly twenty years, Kaczynski would use everyday materials to create makeshift bombs that he would ship to people’s houses hoping to kill them. After evading the police for years he was turned in by his brother David Kaczynski on April 3rd, 1996.

Dominion Voting Systems Reaches a Settlement 

Fox News Network reached a $787.5 million settlement with Dominion Voting Systems in a defamation lawsuit over misinformation about the 2020 election. This settlement is one of the largest in a defamation case.

Hip-hop turned 50 in 2023

By Kelsey Lewis

Hip-hop turned 50: Hip-hop’s anniversary date is known worldwide as August 11, 1973. The original date refers to August 11, 1973 when DJ Kool Herc mixed two records continuously at a party in the Bronx. If you go back to when someone first rapped (or rhymed quickly over a beat) then Hip-hop technically originated many more decades ago. Depending on who you ask, DJ’s have mixed two records before then, but August 11th is remembered as Hip-hop’s anniversary.

X: Twitter Rebrand

By Ekaterina Kozhevnikova 

X: Elon Musk bought and renamed Twitter to, as he thought the name better captured what the app does. Since July 23, the value of “X” has slowly gone down, and the problematic content seen on the app has increased. Elon Musk since has been bashed by users of the app, and many contenders have risen up due to the waning popularity of X. 

Maui Devastating Fire

In August, one of the nation’s deadliest fires in decades occurred on Maui. The fires killed at least 100 people and forced thousands of residents and tourists to evacuate. At least a dozen people escaped into the Pacific Ocean, where the U.S. Coast Guard rescued them. 

Held v. Montana

A group of young people in Montana won a landmark lawsuit on Aug. 14 . The decision in the suit, Held v. Montana, maintained that the state should not have approved fossil fuel projects without considering climate change.

Labor Organized this Year

Hundreds of thousands of workers went on strike in 2023. SAG-AFTRA and The Writers Guild of America both reached agreements to help the writers and actors in September. Healthcare workers, hotel staff, school cafeteria employees and Starbucks baristas also went on strike during 2023. The United Automobile Workers won their biggest pay raises in decades after six weeks of strikes from September through the end of October.

Beloved “Friend” Passes Away: Matthew Perry

By Emma Wolfelsperger

On October 28th, Matthew Perry passed away at age 54 due to acute effects of ketamine. He was known for his wisecracking and lovable character, Chandler Bing, on the popular sitcom Friends. He had struggled with alcohol and drug abuse for years and went to rehab several times and wrote a book about his journey that was released in 2022.

2023 Israel–Hamas war

By Reeyan Soliman

War between Hamas/Israel- War breaks out between Israel and Hamas due to October 7th attacks from Hamas. Israel responds with open genocide on everyone in Gaza, 50% of their population making up children. There was a temporary truce at the end of November which allowed the freeing of some hostages and prisoners. However, hostilities resumed and attacks are still ongoing between the two sides. 

This Year’s Deadliest Shooting

The deadliest mass shooting in the United States this year took place in Maine on October 26th. A gunman opened fire at Just-In-Time Recreation, a bowling alley. Then there were reports of a shooting at Schemengees Bar & Grille, a short drive away. The man, Robert R. Card Jr., killed 18 people and wounded 13 more.

George Santos Removed

George Santos was expelled from the House of Representatives on December first after a decisive bipartisan vote by his peers. He had been a first-term Republican congressman from New York. Ethics investigators found evidence that Santos had broken federal law which resulted in his removal from the House.

Gypsy Rose Blanchard Released From Prison 

By Julianna Cannici and Sara Goldberg

Gypsy Rose Blanchard’s mother, Clauddine “Dee Dee” Blanchard made claims about her daughter’s health her entire childhood. She made Gypsy and others believe that she was sick. For example, she put her in a wheelchair, made her shave her head, had her teeth pulled, and so much more. Dee Dee made her take tons of unnecessary medications, which actually made her sick, to fit the conditions her mother claimed she had. After years of abuse, Gypsy realized that her mother was lying to her. She couldn’t take it anymore, and had her boyfriend at the time kill her mother for her, and was later sentenced to jail. 

Gypsy Rose was released from prison on December 28th. She was welcomed home by her family after 10 years. She celebrated with her father, sister, and step mother. Gypsy is looking forward to the future as she took to social media to express her gratitude for all the support she has received. She also announced her 3 part documentary called, “The Prison Confessions of Gypsy Rose Blanchard” which is a reflection from her time in prison. It premieres January 5th. With freedom at last Gypsy is enjoying shopping with her husband and trying to make a difference. 

Merriam-Webster’s Word of the Year for 2023 

By Philip Colicchio

The slang of the year is rizz. Rizz means charm or appeal. It is a synonym for charisma. An example of rizz is a sentence is: “He thinks he got rizz but he has the ick.”